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What We're Watching: 1/28/11

East coast snow cleanupThe big story of the week was the winter storm that affected much of the east coast. Our regional offices in New York, Philadelphia and Boston are in close coordination with our state and local partners, but this won’t be the last winter storm of the season. Forecasters are calling for more severe weather next week, so make sure you’re prepared with these tips from Ready.gov (see the National Weather Service forecast map).

Challenge deadline tomorrowAs we mentioned earlier in the week, our preparedness challenge ends tomorrow. Check out the more than 150 submissions and submit your own before the deadline!

All submissions will be judged based on originality, level of community engagement, and ease of implementation. FEMA leadership will review the submissions and feature the best idea on fema.gov.

Shout out to the Recovery DivaMany thanks to a fellow emergency management blog, Recovery Diva, for featuring one of our job openings for a Disaster Recovery Reservist. We’re always looking for talented and dedicated folks to join our team who are looking to make a big impact on disaster preparedness, response and recovery. Visit fema.gov/careers for more information on joining the FEMA team.

Strengthening the team in TexasWe also wanted to highlight a news article about strengthening the emergency management team in Dallas County, Texas. Officials from all levels of government - local, state, and federal – got together earlier this week to discuss new ways they can collaborate to ensure the public is better prepared before a disaster strikes.

FEMA's mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

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The disaster reporter feature in the FEMA App (available on Android & Apple) allows you to take GPS photos in a disaster area and upload them to us.

Text WINTER to 43362 (4FEMA) to receive winter safety tips directly to your cell phone (standard message and data rates apply). See the full list of safety tips you can signup for.